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FCC to Take Major Strides in Testing Spectrum Sharing

The Telecommunications Law Resource Center is the most comprehensive reference and news platform for communications law, covering broadcasting, cable, broadband, telephony and wireless;...

By Lydia Beyoud

Jan. 12 — Three
agencies leading the way on spectrum sharing informed the Senate
Commerce Committee that the FCC has begun its own testing in the
5.9 gigahertz (GHz) band, according to letters obtained by
Bloomberg BNA.

The Department of Transportation, Federal
Communications Commission and the Department of Commerce's National
Telecommunications & Information Administration said a
three-phase testing plan was underway, with the FCC in the lead. At
issue is spectrum allocated to automakers for vehicular safety
technology—spectrum that would be shared with unlicensed
technologies such as Wi-Fi.

An FCC spokeswoman confirmed a letter was sent Dec.
18 to Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.), as well as to Sens. Cory Booker
(D-N.J.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). A similar letter was sent to
committee ranking member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and fellow Democrats
Gary Peters (Mich.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) on Jan. 11.

The agencies said it was imperative for the FCC to
conclude all three phases before reaching any conclusions on
whether unlicensed devices can safely share the 5.9 GHz band with
the auto industry's proprietary dedicated short-range
communications (DSRC) technology “to ensure the future automotive
safety and efficiency of the traveling public.”

Spectrum Allocated in 1999

The auto industry was allocated spectrum in that
band in 1999 for the purposes of implementing technology—before the
era of Wi-Fi—to avoid traffic collisions and other safety
applications. The industry has been reticent to embark on any path
to share that spectrum with other users, though the Senate Commerce
Committee was able to make headway with industry groups in 2015 in
the form of a landmark agreement to explore spectrum-sharing
technologies.

Since then, mobile applications and other
technologies dependent on unlicensed spectrum have flourished in
the marketplace, leading technology companies and public interest
groups to advocate for sharing of spectrum, one of the nation's
scarce resources.

The 5.9 GHz band is viewed as particularly desirable
new territory for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technologies because
of its adjacency to the so-called U-NII-3 band of spectrum, 5725
megahertz (MHz) to 5825 MHz, where the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard
currently operates. Expanding into the higher bands of 5.9 GHz
spectrum and harmonizing the rules for unlicensed uses across a new
swath of spectrum would result in significantly higher throughput
speeds and greater spectral efficiency, according to a Jan. 12
report released by the New America Foundation Open Technology
Institute (OTI).

At a Jan. 12 event hosted by the institute, two FCC
commissioners threw their support behind the FCC taking the lead on
spectrum-sharing testing. Democrat Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel
called for testing to be concluded by the end of 2016. Republican
Commissioner Michael O'Rielly said that the primary purpose of DSRC
technology to support safety-of-life applications in connected
vehicles and infrastructure was deserving of protection from
potential interference by unlicensed users.

However, he underscored that other, more commercial,
contemplated uses of the spectrum, such as to display ads, enable
social media or to help drivers find parking spots, were less
deserving of interference protection.

“There should be little doubt that exploring the
ability to allow other uses, such as Wi-Fi, in the 5.9 GHz band,
via sharing or partitioning, is the right thing to do. Even the
auto industry seems to have come around to this thinking,” O'Rielly
said.

NHTSA Speeding Up V2V
Rulemaking

The National Highway and Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) is taking the position that unlicensed and
DSRC technologies operating in the 5.9 GHz band can be
complementary, rather than at odds, for the purpose of reducing
vehicular deaths and injuries, NHTSA Deputy Administrator Blair
Anderson said at the same event.

“We as a department feel very strongly about this
technology,” he said of DSRC, “but we're open to the efficient use
of it.”

Anderson announced that NHTSA sent a draft notice of
proposed rulemaking to require vehicle-to-vehicle equipment on all
new cars and light trucks to the Office of Management and Budget
Jan. 11 .

“We're moving it through the review process because
this administration's very keen to accelerate the innovation that
can take place in that arena,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lydia Beyoud
in Washington at lbeyoud@bna.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Keith Perine in Washington at kperine@bna.com

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